FORMER England and Liverpool football player John Barnes gave fans a morning to remember after being spotted working behind the tills at a Ladbrokes shop.
The former midfielder from Heswall, who totted up 407 appearances for the club over ten years, added a new role to his CV as he assisted Mill Lane, Liverpool Ladbrokes colleagues with customer requests in the run up to Arne Slot’s second home match, against Nottingham Forest.
Barnes also spent the morning interacting with surprised fans who made the most of the unexpected meeting with selfies and autograph requests.
After hearing stories from several of Liverpool’s supporters, Barnes surprised one lucky customer with two tickets to Saturday's game at Anfield, to reward their loyal following of the club.
Eileen, the customer who was surprised with the tickets, has been a lifelong fan and was in attendance cheering the team on against Nottingham Forest.
Patricia Lewis, shop manager at Ladbrokes Mill Lane, said: “It was certainly a change from my usual work schedule! As an avid Liverpool fan myself, it was fantastic to have John Barnes on board for the morning and certainly got the team and our customers excited ahead of the game with one lucky fan getting to attend in-person. He is welcome back anytime!”
Barnes’ temporary career change comes after Ladbrokes was announced as the official betting partner for Liverpool FC in the UK and Ireland.
The multi-year partnership will provide Ladbrokes, owned by Entain, with a range of exclusive content opportunities and activations to reward and entertain Liverpool’s loyal fan base, such as this morning’s surprise meet and greet.
The partnership will also support the local and footballing communities through Entain’s grassroots sports investment programme, Pitching In.
Alex Apati, a colleague at Ladbrokes, said: “It was brilliant to have John Barnes helping the team at Mill Lane this morning... as questionable as his tea-making skills were, he certainly gave our customers an unexpected surprise.
“We want to use our new partnership with Liverpool FC to reward and entertain the club’s loyal fan base and this is the first of many things we will be doing this season.”
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